Eating these daily has shown to switch off genes activated by environmental pollutants such as BPA, which is a hormone disruptor present in plastics and the linings of all those drink cans and coke bottles we use every single day…yikes!

These genes once activated are responsible for miscarriages, childhood obesity, cancers and many more yet undiscovered problems.

Use canola oil, which is rich in long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids which turn off inflammatory genes in fat cells and turn on production of anti-inflammatory cytokines.

DONT EAT

Don’t eat too much carbohydrates, as these turn on risky genes. The maximum carbs you should eat should be no more than approx 30% of your diet..and even then these 30% should be whole grains, not processed.

Cut out as much saturated fat as possible…and yes, I know…that means all those yummy cheeses, cookies, pies and stuff! Well, I dunno…what kind of a life is it where you can’t enjoy a good damn pi once in a while…so use your common sense!

There we have it! A short, sharp guide for healthy living and a long life!

Like me, you must have seen photos of that lady tv presenter in the USA who is shown smiling cheerfully by the head of a beautiful lion she just shot and killed in South Africa.

Now my personal stance on this is that, ok fine….she paid upwards of $40 000 or so allegedly for the chance to shoot that animal, so in her mind, she has the right to do so.

On the other hand, we cannot condemn people like her for doing so either, when there are others in our world who are quite happy to raise wild animals in semi-captivity, and then allow hunters to pay huge sums to kill those very same animals, for the sake of a living. It’s a tough world we live in…we all need to eat, right?

But hang on just a minute there, buddy….do we really, really need to kill such wonderful animals for the thrills it gives us….and do we really need to provide such facilities for those people…all in order to put bread on the table?

I say no, we don’t. Fine, if I were in a jungle and my life was in danger from just such an animal, then yes, I would be out of my mind not to shoot it and save myself.

But to actively raise that animal, then release it for the purposes of hunting it down….that is not right in my books…sorry.

I know, I know…people will say well if such facilities didn’t exist, hunters would go killing those animals anyway, albeit illegally….and some would say that of the alleged $40 000 or so that it costs to hunt one of those animals, most of the fees go towards conservation. That last point is a semi-fallacy….I know what I’d be doing with that amount of money if I was making it……

So what’s the answer? Well, there isn’t one….I’m not offering an answer here..just making a point against what I believe to be wrong. In closing, there is no sane reason why action like that needs to be taken in this day and age…..that belongs to the Stone Age…when we lived in caves….time moves on….thankfully, we humans have taken huge steps in improving our lives….those poor animals are stuck exactly where they were 1000s of years ago. Don’t they deserve a measure of respect for their lives, just as we do ours?

A contentious subject….what happens to us after we die, both in the physical and metaphysical sense.

I bring up this point as a person who has made a choice, a personal choice, to take part in an activity that could lead to the loss of my life. Yes, I know…it sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But it’s a fact.

Every year, there must be thousands of people all over the world who die due to taking part in just such hobbies as mine, namely hiking, climbing, etc.

That is a risk we have to take, albeit a calculated risk. Even crossing the road from one sidewalk to the other could quite easily result in death, so does that mean we don’t venture out of our houses? No, of course it doesn’t.

But what is really shocking is that well over 50% of the population still do not bother to become organ donors, if the worst case scenario were to happen.

Some say it is an insult to the dignity of the dead person if his/her organs are removed. Some say their religion does not allow it. Some just don’t know what it is, but they will not allow it.

Let’s take the religion thing first. There is not a shred of evidence anywhere, correct me if I am wrong, that removing organs from a dead person is taboo. Aside of the religious pundits, who BELIEVE there is a life after death, and that somehow leaving this life with a full set of organs is somehow a prerequisite of gaining a foothold in the afterlife, nobody has ever proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is afterlife. In my opinion, and I do hope I’m not upsetting anyone with my conjectures, these beliefs belong to the days of the Pharaohs and maybe even earlier. We are in the 21st century now and need to change with the times….a tree that doesn’t bend in the wind will break and die……

So why not donate your organs?

On the other hand, logically, if a person donates their organs after death, then he/she will give life, after death, to someone else. Isn’t that life after death? I believe it is.

And a friend of mine who is a physician, once told me that a total of NINE people can be given new lives, from the organs of just one donor.

Recently I saw a TV program that showed how sheep farming has reached a new high.

There, the sheep are going through a new genetic screening procedure which ensures that the best females and males are able to virtually replicate themselves through their off-spring.

Whereas during a normal year, a sheep will give around 1 or 2 lambs, with this screening procedure, the farmers are getting 80 to 100 lambs in one season, from a range of selected females.

But what really upset me was the way in which they are treating the animals….the sheep are first drugged so that they cannot move, but are fully awake, and spread-eagled on their backs on a mobile trolley that has belts which tie down all four legs.

After this, the vet moves in, making incisions to the sheep’s abdomen (don’t forget, the animal is fully awake during this…), feels around inside for the uterus where the eggs are stored, inserts a tube that will flush out those eggs into a collecting tray. That done, the cut is sewn up, by which time, a matter of minutes, the sheep is already beginning to struggle as the drug loses effect.

And when the reporter questions the vet and farmers about whether they realise that some people may object to what is happening on these farms, everyone seems to ignore any of the suggestions.

The vet replies “..this is progress….you either accept this or be faced with less food…what would you prefer…?” The farmer replies in a similar vein saying that there will always be some people voicing their objections to anything….if farmers listened to those objectors, nothing would ever leave a farm…no animals would be killed, no animals would be injected with antibiotics to kill diseases….no nothing…farmers have a living to make…they have families just like everyone else, so they have a right to able able to feed those families, he says.

Cut a long story short….I was very distressed at seeing those animals treated as if they were just non-living entities…their bodies were mutilated whilst still conscious, without any thought to the pain they were obviously suffering from, but couldn’t do anything about as they were drugged.

It’s almost as if we think animals are not able to talk about their pain, so they must be fine.

What we should realise is that animals cannot indeed talk….they do not have a voice with which to tell us about their condition…but we have to be their voices…we are at the top of the very pinnacle of life…and for us to ignore the plight of lesser living beings, is a crying shame….a crying shame.

I’m not a vegetarian…I don’t believe that eating meat is wrong or right..it is a food that is there to be made use of when required, but seeing the way in which that meat could be obtained, is enough to make me think again when I have my next roast lamb dinner.